5 Minutes with D+D’s Logistics Support | Gurkan Atak

August 2016, By Gurkan Atak.

My journey to Melbourne began in my last year at University in Turkey, where we were preparing our solar powered car for a race which would take place in Australia. When I thought of Australia, like most people in Turkey, I thought of kangaroos, endless deserts, beautiful wildlife. Much more peaceful than Turkey and with less pointless political issues.

I made the decision to leave everything behind and move to this new country because I felt that if I didn’t I would regret it forever. Not only was finding a job going to be hard but learning to speak and understand English was going to be a challenge as well, especially the Aussie accent!

Working for a property styling company is definitely not where I imagined myself to be 10 months ago, but life is full of surprises. As soon as my jet lag dissipated I found myself at the Design & Diplomacy warehouse at a job interview with Tim, the managing director of the business. Even though my grasp of the English language was still basic, it wasn’t hard to understand that he is an extraordinary Aussie man who has excellent communication skills, well-presented and has a lot of class. (I’m not just saying that to get a raise!). After my first few weeks working as an assistant to the warehouse manager, the company began to make a lot of sense to me. The combination of a successful stylists, talented creative director, experienced managing director and an excellent logistics team was a perfect recipe for the young company to be successful.

My job is to help keep the warehouse in order, load furniture into our vans for installs, pack up accessories for jobs and general duties around the warehouse. These tasks all contribute to the overall quality service that the business provides.

Some things I have learned while working at Design & Diplomacy include there being more than one name for a chair! There are desk chairs, hoop chairs, ghost chairs, dining chairs, Amy arm chairs and even Hans Wegner Arm chairs… Who would have known?! Also pillows used to be so simple! Now I realize they come in all different sizes and shapes. Pillow cases come in all different colors that have to match the art work and accessories in the room. I thought pillows were just soft things that you sleep on! All jokes aside I don’t have to be a fortune teller to say that this business has a big and bright future. It has all the foundations for success in place.

All in all after 10 months working for this company I have learnt a lot about Australia, the world of property styling and about myself as well. I look forward to continuing to learn about the styling and property industry and to grow with the company and the team. En iyi dileklerimle (Best wishes in Turkish).